New York City book launch slated for "The Natashas" (09/12/04)

New York City book launch slated for "The Natashas"

NEW YORK - On Friday, September 17, The Ukrainian Institute of America along with the Coalition Against Trafficking-USA (CAT-USA), Amnesty International Firefly Project, the Plast Sorority Spartanky, the Ukrainian National Women's League of America, National Council of Women/USA and the World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations is hosting a launch for a very important book on human trafficking titled "The Natashas" by Canadian author and journalist Victor Malarek.

In his book Mr. Malarek provides chilling accounts of young women, sometimes mere children, being kidnapped or tricked into sexual trafficking. Mr. Malarek's first hand account of these situations and interviews with the victims is hard hitting; he doesn't hold back.

In his new epilogue, published especially for the U.S. market, Mr. Malarek talks about the United States' lack of a firm commitment on trafficking and its withdrawal from the Rome Statute, which created the International Criminal Court in The Hague focused on prosecuting international crimes against humanity.

Mr. Malarek writes: "The Bush administration and the State Department appear content to dance a diplomatic tango with a host of nations that clearly have despicable records in dealing with trafficking of women and girls. On this issue, one thing must remain clear: there is no dance for rape."

The London newspaper The Guardian notes: "Mr. Malarek's book takes us to auctions in Bosnia, where women are displayed naked on wooden crates to be poked and prodded like livestock. He hears stories of rape, abuse and torture on a shocking scale."

Born in Lachine, Quebec, in 1948, Mr. Malarek was taken into care in a children's home when he was 9 due to an unstable family life that involved regularly witnessing his alcoholic father beat his mother in fits of drunken rage. As a teenager, he spent time in juvenile correction centers for petty crimes, but then decided to turn his life around and got a job as a copy boy on a Montreal magazine.

From there Mr. Malarek went on to publish a best selling book "Hey Malarek" in Canada and on to his career as an investigative journalist for Toronto's Globe and Mail and CTV Television.

The September 17 event will be the official U.S. book launch for "The Natashas" and held at the Ukrainian Institute of America located on the corner of 79th Street and Fifth Avenue in New York City at 7 p.m. For further information about the event contact the UIA at (212) 288-8660.

If you cannot attend this important event CAT-USA is taking donations to continue raising awareness in the U.S. about the horrible crime of sexual trafficking. Coalition Against Trafficking (CAT-USA) is a New York-based non-profit volunteer organization committed to raising awareness about the sex trafficking of women and children from Ukraine, Central and Eastern Europe. Donations are tax deductible. To donate please call Roksolana Luchkan, Director of CAT-USA at (917) 742-6980 or e-mail CAT-USA at nycstoptrafficking@yahoo.com.

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